Adding charm to a (mobile) home

Living in a mobile home for more years than I care to remember – there are three things that irk me. Coincidentally, those same three things are the first thing I do when we redo each room to take away that “mobile home” look. 1 – Strip the walls. Or should I say de-strip the walls? Mobile homes are made fast, so to make a quick job of covering the walls, they put up sheets of pre-wallpapered drywall (that is thinner than traditional drywall). To cover the joints they put little strips over the gaps, which are also covered in the same wall paper. And they look hideous! If you look very carefully you can see one in the upper right hand corner of this photo. So, as we’ve been redoing room by room we removed all those {stupid-looking} strips and then covered each wall with beadboard. Ah! much better! 2 – Hideous Flooring – Mobile homes are not only made fast, they’re also made cheap. So beautiful flooring isn’t their main concern – cheap and fast is. A huge roll of lino is used to put flooring in the kitchen & baths, then one solid piece of carpet is put down – even before the walls are put up. Yeah, it’s a nightmare to get up – but we did. I have no before photos, but trust me, 1970 called and wanted their kitchen floors back – so I gave it to them and installed my own wood floors instead. 3 – No molding. Well there are little strips, but what the heck is that? Tiny little insignificant stuff that peels right off? No, thank you very much! Another notch on every room’s to-do list is installing crown molding and baseboards. Easy job (most of the time), budget friendly & big impact – those are my favorite kinds of projects.

Other things that make my home-loving heart go pitter patter?

Pretty doors, door knobs & good hinges

Pretty, sturdy windows

Moving walls to where they actually work

It’s not always easy to pretty up a mobile home (or any home for that matter), but the results are so worth the effort!

Gina Luker is a writer, photographer and lover of all things quirky. She's usually found with a drill in one hand and a cocktail in the other while blogging along the way. She's addicted to coffee, polka dots, rock stars, Instagram, and everything aqua.

Comments

Gina, this is a wonderful post. I would think there are lots of people who live in some kind of manufactured housing who will take great inspiration from your tips. But actually, your ideas are inspiring to most of us–almost all of us have some spaces that really need some attention, and you’ve described great ways to get some real bang for your buck. Thank you for sharing your ideas!

I agree. I don’t like the strips either. I’m afraid that our walls will crack if we remove them because our house shifts quite a bit here. I may have to try it in one room and see how it works out.

I do have a question for you. I noticed you have some pretty large pieces hanging on your walls. It’s tough to hang things on the walls of mobile homes. What do you use to hang your pictures and such with?

Hi Not So Functional Housewife!Our house shifts, too, which is why we haven’t attemped dry wall – beadboard not only looks pretty but it’s faster to install and sturdier, too.

Another good thing about beadboard? I can hang heavier pieces on it! On the walls that haven’t been attacked yet always – always – get anchors in the walls before I put the screws in there to hang things. We use the heavy duty kind. BUT – it will leave a 1/2 inch hole in the wall if you remove it, so make sure you’re committed to the piece. Beadboard makes it easier, because the wood will hold the weight.

I think your home is beautiful! You have put your personal stamp on it. Your ideas are inspiring to everyone. It does not matter what type of resident you have, if you surround yourself with comfort and the things you love.

What a wonderful post. Thanks for showing everyone that you can be inspired to make your home beautiful no matter where you live. I grew up in a mobile home and just recently helped my mom remodel hers, so I knew exactly what you were referring to!!

I also lived in a mobile home as a child.. you hit the nail on the head.. those things even bothered me as a child. What a great idea to get rid of them.. I’ll bet most people would not know they could do that. Your home has a beachy feel.

Gina, you are to be admired, the stigma of living in a mobile home is horrible, and I once lived in one as well. It just goes to show, you CAN make ANY home beautiful and lovely, it only takes creativity & desire. You have it all, thank you for sharing with the world what can be done with ANY home to make it beautiful. To answer your question, my main priority is to make any room in my house something that just makes me want to be in it, peaceful, serene, most of all to me just beautiful & inviting.

Who would know looking at the beautiful home you’ve created! When I approach a room design I first think of how it will be used, then find something I’m really excited about, design wise, to get the design off to a great start. Janell

Gina, thanks for this post! It is so true that manufactured homes can be beautiful and functional. Another, less costly approach the those drywall seams is to do board and batten directly over the wallpapered drywall, planning it so each seam is covered by a batten strip. Then paint everything (or paint it first). Love how you have made your home so beautiful!

We also live in a ’76 model mobile home and have been remodeling it little by little. We totally gutted the kitchen, uhh the cabinets were some boards with ugly wood paneling on top. We haven’t completed it yet, so I’m waiting to post the before and after pics. We also used bead board! It totally changed the entire feel of the kitchen, I love it! Thanks for posting your changes, I like seeing how someone else tackled the problems of a mobile home too!

Gina,We have lived in a mobile home for the past 8 years and it’s been a trial to ‘find’ my style with a cheap home. I’m so grateful to see your posts about living in a mobile home. It gives me new inspiration! We pulled the strips in our livng room and patched them but one is starting to show again. I will have to think outside the box on a way to fix it that won’t require a major re-do, but I feel it can be done! Thank you so much being open and sharing your beautiful home! I look forward to new posts about decorating while living in mobile homes!juliatrefethen@yahoo.com

We lived in a mobile home for over 20 years and loved it. It was the best way for us to get the space we needed, when our children were small, and be able to afford it! We did a lot of thins over the years to make it more attractive and more livable. One of my favorite upgrades was putting bead board on walls!

You give me hope. Your place is beautiful! I don’t have a mobile home but I do have a 1070′s prefab, so I have lots of the same issues. My biggest peeve right now is the dark brown vinyl windows. Grrrrrr

Oh Gina! I hate, hate, hate to strips! I have lived with them since 1993! I took down the strips in the living room and dining room and filled the cracks, but they open up in the winter time! I even added more strips to most rooms so the would be 2 ft. apart and looks more like they belonged! I long for smooth sheet rock walls, but I expect I will never have them.

We are getting ready to put down hard wood floors and I can’t wait! Hard wood been bought and ready since last July! First we are putting in new windows! I know, it never ends!

Gina, We just bought a mobile home and your post couldn’t have come at a better time! I’ve got the itch to change this stuff up!! I went to Lowes.com to see about beadboard and had some trouble finding exactly what kind works… Could you please give me an idea of what I should look for when buying the beadboard??

thank you for being open about living in a mobile home (it’s the reason i subscribed to your blog in the first place). i am currently in a mobile home (the second one i have ever even stepped foot in). i didn’t realize how lucky i was to have textured walls and crown molding. we still have to work on the baseboards and the carpet though.

Gina, we lived in a 1973 mobile home from 1992-2002. That sucker was a hot mess! I so wish I had someone like you who could have shown me something to do with that place. Red carpet in the halls and bedrooms and those crank out windows. Whew girl. I was so happyTo be free of that place only because I had no idea of where to begin.

Luckily, we moved out to a 1940′s house that needs just as much TLC. Thank you for this post. Even though it was too late for me, it shows a realistic way to turn affordable housing into a beautiful and warm home.

Hi Gina! I lived in a 1973 mobile home from 1992 to 2002. It was a hot mess. I sure could have used you and your great ideas then! Now we live in a 1940′s house that is a fixer and you are one of my many inspirations.

Thanks for the post. It’s great that you are showing how turn affordable housing into a beautiful, warm home.

I’m so happy I found this blog. I’m currently remodeling my 1995 double wide after 7 YEARS of living in it and hating everything about it. I love the beadboard idea so I’m copying you. Except I’m trying the paintable beadboard wallpaper. I can’t believe how easy it is to apply! I’m putting it up in my guest bath now. If I like it I’m going to do all the bedrooms, the laundry room and the master bath with it. Thankfully the last owners of this house put real drywall in the living room, dining room, sun room and the hall.

Hi Gina , I too and currently living a mobile nightmare , We have done many things like destrip the walls, installed handscraped oak hardwood flooring in most place , however i left a small spot in the entry aeway the kitchen and the bath, i didnt want hardwood in those areas, but now im at a delima because i was told i cannot have ceramic tile in those parts due to the sway of a mobile home would cause it to crack, any suggestions ? I have red oak cabinets and black granite couuntertops waiting to be installed in the kitchen as soon as I figure out what to use to cover the floor . Any thoughs on the matter would be greatly appreciated

A few years ago we added a screened porch onto the back of our mobile home. We have really enjoyed it. I love the outdoors but because of the mosquitoes we were unable to sit outside at night. I’ve done some decorating in order to give the porch a more liveable and homey space.
I do however have one thing I’d like to be able to do that I haven’t been able to find a solution. I have a fairly light weight flat wooden carving of a sea turtle that I’d like to be able to hang on the side wall of our mobile home that attaches to the porch. The wall needs something there and the sea turtle would be the perfect fit. Can you please give me some ideas?
Thank you,
Rachel

Hi Rachel you could use Traffic Master Allure vinyl tile from Home Depot. It comes in the look of slate, marble and wood. It floats on top of your floor so expanding and contracting doesn’t bother it. It is very durable and reasonable in cost. We have used it in our bath and laundry room.

Hi! I have recently bought a mobile home in a park in Florida, and I too want to make it mine. I’m having an issue with the vinyl windows in the Florida room, I can’t find the vinyl to replace the torn weathered windows. Any ideas?
I do love what you have done with you home, the colors brightened up the space so much! Thanks for the positive ideas Gina!

I love looking at the pictures of your remodeled mobile home–love the colors and flooring, and the cottage feeling. I am thinking of buying an older mobile home, which I would want to update and renovate just like yours. I am curious as to what wood you used for the flooring? The older mobile home I’m thinking of buying now has brown panelling throughout. Is the beadboard easy to install (over the brown panelling or would I have to remove it)? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Love your look! My husband and I just purchased a mobile home in Lake Placid Florida so we can spend six months of the year where it’s warm! We purchased our single wide mobile home (1967) for just $2500 so we have some money to work with on the remodel. We have discussed several options for covering the paneling and beadboard is the best solution we have come up with. We can’t wait to get started!! Kitchen, and bathroom will be complete gut and remodel. Wish us luck!

I rented a very old 1980″s mobile in VA, the walls screaming with large bolded yellowing floral through out.. Since I was renting and obviously the landlord wasn’t worried about what I had to live with everyday. I got a 5 gallon bucket of primer and paint. Getting more creative I got spackle and created a texture under the paint. This kept the walls from looking like paneling, by eliminating the “sheen”. My landlord loved it, as did anyone that visited. I ended up being hired out by my landlord doing something I loved.. getting rid of ugly!

I have a 16 x 80 single wide that I am in the process of trying to redesign. Have you or do you know of anyone who has ever changed the design of the kitchen? The cabinets are so small. i have a an island that has a s 19 in sink which is so small and there are cabinets above the island which are low so I keep hitting my head on them (and I’m short). I wanted to redesign the whole kitchen but don’t know who would do that? We can’t seem to find anyone who will work on a mobile home and to be honest I am not that talented to tackle the job myself.
Also, is putting breadboard up a difficult job? Did you do the whole wall or just half a wall and did you find that you lost space with the thickness of the bead board. I keep trying to ask questions to people who have remodeled their mobile home but no one has ever responded back. I love all the designs that you have done. I was just going to fill in the gaps on those strips and then just paint with a textured sand paint.

Yes, you can remodel it, but it’s a lot of planning. You can buy pre made cabinets at Lowe’s or Ikea (think home type stores) and find an arrangement of off the shelf cabinets that will work in your space. If you take all your measurements to Ikea they have folks there to help you figure it all out

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